Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:Going Across the Mountain

Going Across the Mountain

Going Across the Mountain
Going across the mountain,
Oh, fare you well;
Going across the mountain,
You can hear my banjo tell.
Got my rations on my back,
My powder it is dry;
I'm a-goin' across the mountain,
Chrissie, don't you cry.
Going across the mountain,
To join the boys in blue;
When this war is over,
I'll come back to you.
Going across the mountain,
If I have to crawl,
To give old Jeff's men
A little of my rifle ball.
Way before it's good daylight,
If nothing happens to me,
I'll be way down yander
In old Tennessee.
I expect you'll miss me when I'm gone,
But I'm going through;
When this war is over,
I'll come back to you.
Going across the mountain,
Oh, fare you well;
Going across the mountain,
Oh, fare you well.
(As sung by Frank Proffitt on the album "Frank Proffitt of Reese, North Carolina
," Folk-Legacy CD). Frank's grandfather, a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, cho
se to "go across the mountain to join the boys in blue" and fight against the Co
nfederacy.
JRO
Oct01